Matthew Royale
Matthew Royale is a sorcerer, appearing in Medieval Spawn/Witchblade crossover. Biography Meeting Lord Cardinale In eleven-seventy-five A.D. Matthew Royale approaches the cruel tyrant Lord Cardinale, the current Darkness host in his castle in the city of Pyreness. Cardinale points out that he never heard of him. Meanwhile, Royale has heard a lot about Lord Cardinale and his dark powers, that helped him to create an empire stretching from Flanders to the south of Spain. Cardinale interrupts Royale, telling him that he's fully aware of what he is and instead asks who his guest supposed to be. Royale answers, that he's the man who will make Cardinale truly mighty. Lord Cardinale doesn't believe him, thinking that he already can do everything he wants, even creating a queen for himself out of the Darkness, that he named Elinor. Royale points out, that although Cardinale is truly mighty, his powers only work in the dark and its only matter of time, until his subjects realize this and overthrow him. To stop this from happening, Royale suggests Lord Cardinale to invade the otherworld that lies besides their own called Faerie. The spells perfected by the Faerie folk and the knowledge they possess are unimaginable and someone like Cardinale could rule our world with this power. As the light in Faerie is not drawn from our sun, the Darklings would be immune to it. Elinor then questions Royale as to what he gains from all of this. Royale answers, that he's a student of sorcery and some of the Faerie magic would fascinate him on a purely academic level, and he would relish the fact is he could study them. Although Elinor doesn't believe his answers, Lord Cardinale decides to go through with Royale's suggestion and attacks Faerie. Invading Faerie As Lord Cardinale watches the carnage, Royale warns him that because of the complicated relationship of Faerie's world to their own, the conflict he started could well spill over to Earth at any time. Moments later, the Darklings drop from a dimensional portal in front of the Medieval Spawn, who proceeds to quickly kill them. Meanwhile, Lord Cardinale asks as to who that stranger was. Royale explains, that it was a young Spawn, which makes Elinor to ask if he poses a threat to them. Royale reassures them that he doesn't pose any threat to their plans. Later, having witnessed the battle between Medieval Spawn, the new Witchblade wielder Katarina and the Darklings, Lord Cardinale questions Royale as to what is Katarina wearing on her hand. Royale tells him that its a Witchblade and he believed it to be a myth. Elinor then proceeds to ask Royale if the gauntlet poses a threat to them. Royale, visibly concerned, doesn't answer. Day later, Lord Cardinale reaches with his army the capitol of Faerie, Bel-Gadryel and proceeds to lay siege on the city. Meanwhile, Elinor approaches Royale, wanting to find out his true motivations for attacking the city. Royale tells her that her questions are irrelevant and that she just jealous, that someone other than her would advise her Cardinale. After this remark, Elinor loses her patients and transforms her face into a giant snake, that proceeds to wrap around Royale and begins to slowly strangle him. Threatening with his life, Elinor demands answers regarding his true motivations to attack Bel-Gadryel and what threat the Witchblade does it really pose them. Royale tells her, that the Witchblade is a mortal enemy of the Darkness and if they met, he's unsure who would win. Elinor then questions as to why Royale didn't tell this to Cardinale and why did he really brought them here. Before he can answer, Lord Cardinale orders Elinor to join him and destroy the first siege-wall with her magic. Elinor complies, but warns Royale that after they finish with Faerie, they will continue their discussion. Royale then tells her, that she will pay for this. Medieval Spawn and The Witchblade Seeing that the first wall has fallen, Royale sets out to meet with the Spawn and Katarina. He opens up a portal and approaches the trio in their camp, pretending to be a sorcerer who wanted to stop Lord Cardinale from attacking Faerie. Unfortunately, the enemy's strength is beyond anything he could ever hope to vanquish. However, Katarina holds the power to destroy them all. Royale tells her, that he has been watching her progress too and proceeds to explain about the Witchblade, Lord Cardinale and his witch-queen Elinor. He tells them, that he can transport the group to the castle with the help of his magic. Before accepting this offer, the Spawn talks in private with Katarina and Stalker about Royale. Although Stalker doesn't trust Royale, Katarina decides to accept his offer and get to the castle much quicker. As they reach Bel-Gadryel, Lord Cardinale finishes off the last of the Faerie warriors and commands his minions to spread out and find their magic artifacts. Royale then suggests the Spawn and Katarina defend the tower of Cor'Myreth, where the treasure that their enemy covets lies. Meanwhile, Royale himself will enter the tower and neutralize the source of the elves power, so Cardinale couldn't take it. The Spawn and Katarina decide to with this plan and defend the tower as Royale enters it, secretly calling them idiots. Date of the Apocalypse Inside, Royale searches the tower for a mystical artifact. Stalker then approaches him and aims his crossbow at him. He then orders him to reveal, what he really is up to. Royale ignores him, saying that Stalker couldn't in now way impact his plans. Stalker then shoots an arrow at him, but Royale catches it with his hand, imbues it with magic and proceeds to launch right back at him. The ensuing explosion, pushes Stalker out of the towers window. Royale then finally finds a magical mirror and asks it when will the apocalypse will come and how can he live to see it. The mirror shows that the apocalypse will happen on October 2, 1996 A.D. and elemental avatars of Arcanum world will have something to do with it. He also finds out to extend his life in order to be able to witness the apocalypse. After Lord Cardinale is decapitated by the Medieval Spawn, Royale finds and takes still alive Cardinale's head with himself. Aftermath For the next eight hundred years, the Darkness power still inside of him, kept Cardinale alive through all these years and Royale was able to draw a little of his power to extend his own life so he could witness the apocalypse. By 1996 with only six months left to the supposed apocalypse, Royale sat in a park with Cardinale's head, kept in a cardboard box, sitting besides him. He's resting is interrupted by Cardinale yelling profanities at him from inside the box. The fact that the head still holds a grudge against him after eight hundred years of pain and misery, amuses Royale. After finishing telling the same old story of his downfall, Cardinale asks Royale to tell him as to what happened to the Spawn and the Witchblade. Having returned from Faerie, the Spawn tells Katarina, that seven years ago, when he was still human, he travelled in Mediterranean when the ship stopped at Sardinia for provisions. The Spawn met Katarina in a tavern and immediately fell in love with her. They then spent a night together. He continues by telling, that because of their love, Katarina was able to take back control from the Witchblade. Katarina objects this claim, saying that although remembering him certainly distracted her, she mastered the Witchblade by herself and it nothing to do with him. She also adds, that it was only a one-off thing and nothing more. Katarina also asks why didn't he tell her about this earlier to which the Spawn answers that it was because he's not the same the man he was back then. Although, Katarina asks to explain further, the heartbroken Spawn refuses to and rides away alone. In the present, hearing that the Spawn was heartbroken, amuses Lord Cardinale. Royale then finishes the story. After the Spawn leaves, Katarina decides to let the Stalker buy her a pint after they count the Faerie gold. Unfortunately as they open the bag, they find the gold have turned to lead in their world. Having went through all this trouble and gained nothing from it, Katarina clenches her Witchblade preparing to punish Stalker for this. Personality Royale is a scheming individual, who uses others to fulfill his own agenda. He managed to fool and use powerful beings like Lord Cardinale, Katarina or Spawn to accomplish tasks he couldn't on his own. Although some do manage to look through his lies like Elinor and Stalker, both of which he tries and in Elinor's case, succeeds to put them out of picture. Powers & Abilities Powers * Enhanced Reflexes: Royale possess incredible reflexes, able to catch an arrow mid-flight with his bare hand. * Sorcery: Royale is a skilled sorcerer and has shown to be able to wield various spells. ** Portal Creation: Royale can open portals to other places in order to instantly traverse huge distances. When he wanted to approach Medieval Spawn and Katarina, Royale opened a portal in Bel-Gadryel that led to the groups camp in the woods. ** Object Enhancement: Royale could enhance projectiles with explosive energy. After catching Stalker's arrow shot at him, Royale proceeded to imbue it with magic and then launched it back at Stalker, causing a huge explosion. He was also able to enhance the Witchblade, causing it to completely take control over Katarina. ** Life Extension: By drawing little of Darkness power still present in Lord Cardinale's head, Royale was able to extend his life for over eight hundred years. Abilities * Occult Knowledge: Royale possessed vast knowledge about the magical world. Gallery Mspawn21.jpg|Elinor confronting Royale. Mspawn35.jpg|Royale trapping Elinor. Mspawn40.jpg|Royale opening up a portal. Mspawn44.jpg|Royale approaching Katarina, Medieval Spawn and Stalker. Mspawn45.jpg|Royale taking Lord Cardinale's head. Mspawn55.jpg|Royale with Lord Cardinale's head in 1996. Category:Comics Characters Category:Crossover Characters Category:Comic Males